Safaris in Arnhemland

Located at the border of the famous Kakadu national park (NT), Arnhemland is one of the most restricted areas of Australia. Entry is by permit only and must be arranged prior to your arrival with the traditional Aboriginal custodians.

Now imagine that a light aircraft is waiting for you at Darwin or at Jabiru airport. A twenty minutes flight and you are landing on a small airstrip located nearby the base camp of Davidson Arnhemland Safaris. Alternatively you can reach the base camp in two hours from Jabiru with a 4WD vehicle.

All you need to bring is light casual clothes, a light cardigan for cool evenings during May-September, a camera with plenty of films, flash unit and spare batteries, walking shoes and personal toiletries.

And the adventure can start …. You access the ultimate in exclusive wilderness expeditions, with experienced guides escorting visitors through a series of educative adventures that may include visiting 55,000 years old Aboriginal rock art and occupation sites, taking a sunset boat cruise complete with light refreshments on adjacent lilly-covered billabongs, capturing a photographic record of the area's natural and man-made treasures, along with a staggering profusion of bird and wildlife, fishing for Barramundi, or simply 'soaking up the country'.

After such an amazing day, you will be please to return to the comfortable base camp. Twin-share, airy tents each equipped with beds, 240 volt power outlets and external lighting are spaced in a wide semi circle around the social hub, a complex that incorporates briefing room, library, kitchen, dining areas and amenities.

This is your adventure with Davidson's Arnhemland Safaris (Site Davidson Arnhemland Safaris en français disponible).

The twenty minutes flight give us the opportunity to fly over the East Alligator river and give us some superb views of Arnhmenland from the sky. When reaching destination, lost in the nature we discover the camp but ... where is the landing strip? Oh well, is it this small one there? Do we have really to land on THAT? Yes, that's the one ....

No worries Mate, the pilot is doing it everyday. And indeed we are safely reaching the end of the strip, the engines are shutting down and the 'comite d'acceuil' is already there.
One guide with a 4WD vehicle is welcoming us giving us a first, short briefing. Well just the time to go back to the camp to catch one of the available tours. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean that there are plenty of tours and that you can chose one or the other. Activities are simply organised for a three days stay. So if the first day you chose to join the day tour going in the Aboriginal caves, the next day you can chose to go for a tour on the billabong, or chose the fishing option. Don't worry, you will not be bored.

So, just the time to meet the other members of our group, to jump at the back of 4WD and we are on the track.

A first stop in the bush. Everybody out. Time to find bush tuckers. Under the direction of our guide we are trying to find our lunch. No just joking. After some explanations about some of the local bush food we are trying to find a small plant tasting as a potato. Well, we found some and ... yes we eat them. Well not enough if you are really hungry but you catch the lesson. The bush can feed you if you know what to search and what to search.